The categorization workflow

Categorization is Converge’s signature move. The group brainstorms in the open, AI groups the responses into themes while everyone watches, and the group immediately rates, selects, or ranks those themes. Forty minutes from blank page to prioritized list, with the participants doing the work.

Setting it up

The fastest way is the workflow shortcut.

1. In a section, click Add Activity and scroll below the grid to Categorization workflow. Click Create categorization workflow.

2. Give it a Name, such as “Must-have course features”, and choose Prioritize with: Rate, Select, or Rank.

3. Click Create workflow. Three linked activities appear: “Brainstorm: name”, “Categorize: name”, and “Rate: name” (or Select, or Rank). Each is a normal activity you can edit afterwards.

The defaults are sensible. Rate gets one ten-point scale, Select is set to pick exactly three, and Rank starts empty and fills itself when you send the themes.

You can also wire existing activities together. On the categorization’s row menu choose Connect. The modal has three rails: Fed by, where you pick the source brainstorm, the categorization in the middle, and Feeds these activities, where you tick the Select, Rate, or Rank activities that should receive the themes.

The Flow column on the agenda shows the chain, and nudges you with Connect this categorization if nothing feeds it, or Add a next step if it has a source but no destination.

Running it live

1. Brainstorm. Bring participants to the Ideas activity with Join Now and let responses pour in. Move to the results view when you’ve got enough.

2. Categorize. Open the categorization. Click AI Categorize. Use the arrow next to it to choose a Theme style first if you want something other than plain themes: Strategic Recommendations, Tactical Actions, Consensus, Tensions, or Custom, which takes your own instruction. The number of themes is chosen for you based on the style and how many responses there are.

3. Review the themes. Each theme expands to show the ideas underneath it. Edit a theme’s name, Delete ones you don’t want, and run AI Categorize again if the first cut isn’t right. Changes save as you go; the status shows All changes saved.

4. Send them on. Click Send to “name” at the bottom, where the name is the prioritization activity. The themes become that activity’s options. If nothing is connected yet, Choose destination lets you pick or create one.

5. Prioritize. Bring participants to the Rate, Select, or Rank activity with Join Now. Its results view shows the group’s priorities as they come in.

Do it more than once

The brainstorm can feed the categorization again after more responses arrive, and you can re-send themes. Only one categorization can feed a given prioritization activity, though, so add a second Rate or Rank if you want to compare two cuts.

Good to know

• A brainstorm remembers its default categorization as a route. Nothing transfers on its own; you still review and send.
• Duplicating a categorization copies its ideas by default, so you can experiment on a copy without touching the live one.
• Custom instructions for AI Categorize can be long, up to 15,000 characters, which is enough to paste a full coding frame.